First Qualifying Sessions

As qualifying began, the 250B track hit the track first and Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Daxton Bennick was out on track for his professional debut. He did have a pretty big crash after the finish line jump that left his bike banged up but it sounds like he will be okay. Bennick was able to put in a 2:06.880 to top the B group anyway.

The A group headed out and the track was certainly sloppy and deep. There's the chance for rain in the forecast today but it looked almost like it rained last night with out wet the track was. Not many riders were able to clear LaRocco's Leap but most of the Yamaha boys were. 

Hunter Lawrence set the pace for the session with a 2:07.693 but remarkably nobody was close enough to topple Bennick's time from the B session. Perhaps a clean track helped but Bennick certainly starts off his debut strong. 

Next up the 450 A group headed on out and the field was led around by Adam Cianciarulo and Chase Sexton. Dylan Ferrandis and Jett Lawrence elected to hang back and let the whole field go before they set on out. A lot more of the 450 class was able to do the Leap but it really doesn't seem like it's a make or break deal for a solid time in qualifying today.

Either way, Jett Lawrence was on it just like he has been all year long and put in an incredible 2:04.806 lap time. It was over two seconds faster than anyone else as Chase Sexton was the closest with a 2:06.837. Ty Masterpool was also strong going third fastest as he normally fares very well at RedBud and looks like he's set to do so again today.

Second Qualifying Sessions

Some light rain started falling as the second group of qualifying began and Bennick's time was still the mark to beat. The track was really rough everywhere due to the deep conditions and the rain certainly wasn't helping.

The turn before LaRocco's Leap was particular rough with a few guys getting cross rutted and going down, including Jett Reynolds. Only a handful of guys in the 250s are now doing the Leap but crucially the track was slower again in the second session. Despite Justin Cooper's best efforts to put in a 2:07.4, Bennick's time all the way back during the first session would hold strong to qualify P1 on debut. For what it's worth, Bennick's second session time would have slotted him about P15 in 250A session two. But for now, he rolls to the line first at Red Bud.

The rain began to fall even harder by the time the second round of 450 qualifying began but the times were still a little bit better as some of the returning riders got more to grips with the track. Most notably, Jason Anderson improved a bunch in Q2 to jump up to third fastest with a 2:07.867. 

Jett Lawrence just continued rolling from the first session though as he went down to a 2:04.7 again but Sexton was able to improve to a low 2:06. Pretty clearly Sexton looks to be the second fastest rider here today but things could certainly change if the rain continued to fall. Lawrence for the fifth straight race though has qualified P1 here today at RedBud.

250 Moto 1

Hunter Lawrence rocketed out to the holeshot as the gates hit the dirt for the first moto of the day. He had Haiden Deegan right on his heels while Ryder DiFrancesco and Tom Vialle settled into third and fourth behind them. While Lawrence and Deegan were sprinting away at the front early, Ryder D was battling hard with Vialle for the first two laps until they came together hard just before the finish line jump. Their two lines came together from the inside and outside as they collided floating over the inside single before the finish and both went down. Vialle remounted in about 10^th while DiFrancesco slipped all the way back to about 20^th.

That early kerfuffle moved Seth Hammaker in his return to racing up to third just ahead of his teammate Jo Shimoda and Justin Cooper. Shimoda was working hard trying to get by Hammaker and did even make the pass, but Hammaker was able to jump the Leap and get back by. Then Justin Cooper fell behind them and slipped back to seventh spot behind Maximus Vohland. Shimoda fell the very next lap and lost even more positions as he slipped back to eighth behind Tom Vialle.

Lawrence and Deegan were gone out front with Lawrence putting about a second a lap on Deegan and both of them gaining more than a second a lap on everyone else. RJ Hampshire worked up from a mid-pack start to get onto the back of Hammaker with about 10 minutes left to go and finally found a way to break through on the Kawasaki man to slot into third. Cooper charged up and passed Vohland and eventually got to and around Hammaker to move into fourth.

Levi Kitchen crashed with Talon Hawkins on the first lap and Kitchen spent the entire moto trying to get into the top 10. He finally made it there around halfway as he passed his teammate Bennick who was riding comfortably in the front group in his debut. Kitchen then caught Shimoda late in the race while Shimoda was closing up on Vohland trying to get into sixth. That three-rider battle became the one to watch late as they crossed the two to go board essentially nose to tail. Somehow, they’d stay that way int the end despite Shimoda giving Vohland everything he could handle in the end.

Out front, Hunter Lawrence cruised to the win in the first moto, his first Moto 1 victory of 2023. Deegan came home a comfortable second while Hampshire would round out the podium to start the day.

450 Moto 1

Off the start of the first 450 class moto, it was Jett Lawrence who launched out to the early lead with Ty Masterpool and Dylan Ferrandis behind him. Chase Sexton was in fifth place early on behind Adam Cianciarulo as Jett started pulling away out front and the train tightened up behind Masterpool.

Sexton was making moves quick, getting around Cianciarulo for fourth and then Ferrandis for third by about the fifth lap. He then spent another two or so laps behind Masterpool until he was able to break through on the privateer into second. By the time he was in second though, Jett had already opened up about an eight second lead and much of the race from there was Jett managing that gap.

The battling behind Sexton stayed hot though as Masterpool had Cianciarulo and Ferrandis breathing down his neck. Cianciarulo tried several times to make a move but couldn’t quite figure it out. Then Ferrandis pounced to get by both of them and back into third. He seemed to find his groove also as he went steaming away from them rather quickly leaving Masterpool and AC to battle it out for fourth.

It all went wrong though as AC had found his way by and then immediately fell in front of Masterpool which caused Masterpool to run his bike over. Masterpool picked it up in sixth while AC remounted a little later bit his bike was pretty beat up and he’d eventually have to pull off and DNF.

Lawrence would cruise to the win in the end by about 17 seconds over Chase Sexton. Ferrandis would get third comfortably over Aaron Plessinger while Plessinger just narrowly defeated Anderson who charged up on him at the end.

250 Moto 2

Right off the start of the second 250 class moto, the entire series was turned upside-down as Hunter Lawrence was collected in the middle of a massive first turn pileup. He was down for quite some time before eventually getting up under his own power and walking to the medical mule with an apparent right arm/shoulder injury. After being checked out, team manager Lars Lindstrom said that it appears Hunter avoided major injury, but it was definitely a hit to his right arm and ribs that were his problem areas. Hopefully it doesn’t end up being injuries that sideline the points leader for an extended period of time.

Haiden Deegan grabbed the holeshot of the race, but his teammate Levi Kitchen was able to wrestle the lead away from him in the first few corners and run away with the lead early. Tom Vialle was in third behind Deegan with Jo Shimoda and Justin Cooper rounding out the top five.

Cooper was able to sneak around Shimoda early on but surprisingly he would basically stay there after that. The front three really started putting in time on the rest of the field and particularly Kitchen was flying at the front as he pulled away from Deegan. For much of the race, Deegan would maybe gain on one lap and then lose time on the next few. He was still jumping LaRocco’s Leap every lap until about 10 minutes to go when he cased it pretty hard and then elected to stop jumping it after that. Once he stopped jumping it, Vialle began to close up from third as he was putting in the fastest laps of anyone down in the final five minutes of the race. With two laps to go, Vialle made the pass stick on Deegan to shuffle him back to third, but that wouldn’t matter for the overall on the day.

Levi Kitchen would break through for a big win as he claimed the second 250 class moto but the attention was all on Haiden Deegan who’s 2-3 scores on the day were enough to claim his first career professional victory.